I was about to toss a old free spirit road bike when I looked at my grinder and had a neat idea. 5 hours later, some cheap paint and I think I like it!

I cut off the rear brake truss, some weird flange, deskinned the seat, and smacked everything with the grinder. I also removed the brakes, cut off the large front ring and positioned on the third cog on the rear. Viola! $5 single speed.

Generally I'm not a fan of people butchering bikes, but I can tell this bike is happier for you doing this to it. That FreeSpirit was no collectors item and you made it fun again. Good Job! +1 to front brake, cheap and easy to do, the short cable won't mess with the lines of the bike too much. I'd use an old 3-speed/cruiser brake handle up on the bar tops.

Generally I'm not a fan of people butchering bikes, but I can tell this bike is happier for you doing this to it. That FreeSpirit was no collectors item and you made it fun again. Good Job! +1 to front brake, cheap and easy to do, the short cable won't mess with the lines of the bike too much. I'd use an old 3-speed/cruiser brake handle up on the bar tops.

If your not a fan of people "butchering" bikes what are you doing snooping around the alt bike section?

Ha, I stand corrected. Let me clarify, I'm not a fan of people butchering nice classic bikes where only a few examples still exist. No shortage of Free Spirits out there, in this case it seems like an improvement. In any case, it was not a troll attempt, but an honest expression of appreciation for taking something mundane and making something cool from it. I snoop here often, don't always have time to post, but there's been some really cool stuff in here. *edit*... and if I ever get the time to build it, I hope to post some stuff in here as well.

Wow, you really put a lot into that frame. Is that frame Hi-10 or one of the 531 frames? All the pics I've seen of the Ted Williams 531 Free Spirit were a golden color. The 3-piece crank on that is different than the single-piece crank on the OP's bike. I like them both.